Moderator Musings
Monday, August 16th, 2004 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniOf the two panels I'm moderating at WorldCon, one seems to have, on inspection, something of an odd kick in its assumptions.
The panel is title "Mind the Plot Holes, Dear," and the panelists are charged with giving examples of plot hole problems from "any piece of SF/F," categorize them, and offer suggestions on how the story could be saved/rewritten so as to seal the perceived hole.
We've got an able crew, easily capable of talking entertainingly for an hour about anything at all, but I'd like to at least come within shouting distance of the topic, preferably without bloodshed or tears.
I've thrown the question of how best to play it out to the rest of the panelists. One feels that it really wouldn't be fair to ding Classic SF/F (i.e. Dead Authors) for, say, science "mistakes" when the author was playing with the rules as known at the time, and I have to agree that this would be Bad Form.
There might be a couple of worthy targets among Pulpdom -- thinking here in terms of major secondary characters abruptly going missing and never mentioned again; or of loving preparations made for our hero's journey to Cleveland so he can save the girl, only to find him in New York after the scene break, on the cause of saving the world, and he doesn't notice the difference -- but I'm not sufficiently well-read to locate them, nor do I think they'd have a lot of relevance to our audience.
Another panelist offers the suggestion that we come prepared with errors from our own works. At first glance, this seems the most reasonable way to go, but the more I look on it, the uneasier I get. Do we really want to tell a room full of people that they can't trust us to be careful craftspeople?
I feel like there's some Really Obvious way to discuss the material -- which is interesting and useful in a What are Plot Holes? How to Recognize and Repair Them sort of way -- without either self-immolation or humiliating a fellow writer.
Wish I could figure out what it is, though...
The panel is title "Mind the Plot Holes, Dear," and the panelists are charged with giving examples of plot hole problems from "any piece of SF/F," categorize them, and offer suggestions on how the story could be saved/rewritten so as to seal the perceived hole.
We've got an able crew, easily capable of talking entertainingly for an hour about anything at all, but I'd like to at least come within shouting distance of the topic, preferably without bloodshed or tears.
I've thrown the question of how best to play it out to the rest of the panelists. One feels that it really wouldn't be fair to ding Classic SF/F (i.e. Dead Authors) for, say, science "mistakes" when the author was playing with the rules as known at the time, and I have to agree that this would be Bad Form.
There might be a couple of worthy targets among Pulpdom -- thinking here in terms of major secondary characters abruptly going missing and never mentioned again; or of loving preparations made for our hero's journey to Cleveland so he can save the girl, only to find him in New York after the scene break, on the cause of saving the world, and he doesn't notice the difference -- but I'm not sufficiently well-read to locate them, nor do I think they'd have a lot of relevance to our audience.
Another panelist offers the suggestion that we come prepared with errors from our own works. At first glance, this seems the most reasonable way to go, but the more I look on it, the uneasier I get. Do we really want to tell a room full of people that they can't trust us to be careful craftspeople?
I feel like there's some Really Obvious way to discuss the material -- which is interesting and useful in a What are Plot Holes? How to Recognize and Repair Them sort of way -- without either self-immolation or humiliating a fellow writer.
Wish I could figure out what it is, though...
no subject
Date: 2004-08-17 01:26 am (UTC)Hmmm....
You know, that might actually work, if adapted, thusly: see if the panelists can get hold of the relevant novelizations -- two or three of the aired Enterprise episodes have in fact been novelized. Then talk about how the plot holes in the material as shown onscreen have been addressed by the novelizers as they expand and fill out the screen stories for print.